chapter 3 ethics in social research. ethics guide behavior and decisions ethics guide us through a...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 3
Ethics in Social Research
• Ethics guide behavior and decisions• Ethics guide us through a range of
concerns, dilemmas, and conflicts• Social researchers have a clear moral
– And professional obligation to behave in an ethical manner
2
What are Research Ethics?
Why Be Ethical?
• Scientific community demands ethical behavior without exceptions
• Scientific misconduct– Research fraud– Plagiarism
• Unethical but legal
3
4
Figure 3.1: Typology of Legal andMoral Actions in Social Research
5
Expansion Box 3.1: Informed Consent
6
Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants
• Origins of Research Participant Protection– Tuskegee Syphilis Study
• Physical Harm, Psychological Abuse, and Legal Jeopardy– Physical Harm– Psychological Abuse, Stress, or Loss of Self-
Esteem
7
– Legal Harm• Other Harm to Participants• Deception
– Principle of voluntary consent• Informed Consent• Special Populations and New Inequalities
– Avoid Creating New Inequalities
Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants
8
Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants
• Privacy, Anonymity, and Confidentiality– Privacy– Anonymity– Confidentiality– Information as property
• Mandated Protections– National Research Act (1974)
9
Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants
– Institutional review board• Three Ethical Controversies
– Milgram’s obedience study– Humphreys’s tearoom trade study– Zimbardo’s prison experiment
10
Research Precautions
• Consult with mental health professionals & others who have conducted similar studies
• Screen out high-risk populations• Obtain written informed consent (to be
discussed) before the research• Monitor conditions & arrange emergency
interventions if dangerous situations arise
11
Nuremberg Code
12
Expansion Box 3.2: Basic Principles of Ethical Social Research
13
• Whistle-blowing• Arriving at particular findings• Limits on how to conduct studies• Suppressing findings• Concealing sponsorship
Ethics and the Sponsors of Research
14
Politics of Research
• Limits to what is studied• Objectivity and value freedom
– Objective– Value free– Unbiased
15
Expansion Box 3.3: What Is Public Sociology?